27. How the Harlem Children’s Zone Navigated COVID

Can a global pandemic provide a platform for change? If you are Kwame Owusu-Kesse, CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), the answer is a resounding yes. With a pre-existing, comprehensive, platform aimed to combat racial inequity and bridge educational divides, the Harlem Children’s Zone was in a uniquely well-prepared position when COVID hit. Able to identify the immediate and long-term needs of their community members, HCZ focused on a 5-pronged approach. Comprehensive and strategic, Kwame’s plan, designed to serve the local Harlem community, was quickly scaled for national use. 

Kwame explains how his journey as the child of Ghanaian immigrants was forever changed as the result of a little luck in a little church basement. He took that luck and turned it into opportunity and from that opportunity and hard work, Kwame has successfully transferred his experience in the private sector to benefit the public sector.

Kwame shares how he and the HCZ are dedicated to taking luck out of the equation so that every child experiences the freedom and independence that comes with opportunity.

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